BY CHRISTOPHER SCHOBERTFall means football, school,and, for Western New Yorkcinephiles, lots and lots offilms. The Oscar season trulybegins sometime in earlySeptember, and a key elementis the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival (TIFF). TIFF17runs from September 7 to 17,and while that’s just a fewdays away, it’s not too late toplan a visit.Here are a few reasons why 2017should be the year you finally make itto TIFF.TIFF16 was one of the best fests inyears.

Moonlight. La La Land. Arrival.
Manchester by the Sea. While none
of these 2016 hits were Toronto world
premieres, all played the festival to
great acclaim. Also playing TIFF were
bold, unique entries like Jackie, The
Handmaiden, Nocturnal Animals, and
American Honey. And two of the finest
films released in 2017, Kristen Stewart-starrer Personal Shopper and the dark
period piece Lady Macbeth, were festival highlights. This stellar group made
TIFF16 a huge success.

Fewer films in 2017 makes schedul-ing a bit easier.

The films mentioned above represent
only a handful of the nearly 300 features
that played the 2016 festival. With that
many entries, it should come as no surprise that there are some duds. That’s
one of the reasons the decision to cut
the number of features by twenty percent for the 2017 festival is good news.

OK, so there are still an absurd numberof films, but any reduction means few-er conflicts, and that means schedulingshould be easier. (The downside of allthis is that TIFF has jettisoned its Van-guard program, which included some ofthe festival’s most complex and prob-ing fare.)

It’s now easier to customize ticket-buying.

It might come as a surprise that evenwith the festival a few days away, thereare still options for ticket-buyers. Andthere are a few new ticketing optionsthat allow you to customize purchas-es in a sensible way. The new “regularflex” option offers six tickets for $150,and six is just right for a two-day or day-and-a-half visit. It’s also worth notingthat weekday daytime screenings nowstart at eighteen dollars for adults andten dollars for anyone twenty-five andunder. Of course, if you are open to see-ing something a bit less anticipated—e.g., a film that’s not making its premierein Toronto—you’ll greatly increase youroptions.

You can hit Yorkville while you’re in
town.

Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood is
a bustling area of cool boutiques and
restaurants. It’s also a great place to
spot visiting celebrities. And it’s also
another hotel option. Yorkville is a
short walk or drive from downtown, so
if you are searching for a place to stay,